<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Meeting in the Middle by DivineLady91</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28219500">Meeting in the Middle</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DivineLady91/pseuds/DivineLady91'>DivineLady91</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Klaine Advent Drabble Challenge 2020 [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Glee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Don't copy to another site, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Future Fic, Husbands, Klaine Advent Drabble Challenge 2020, Light Angst, M/M, Romance, Vogue Employee Kurt Hummel, mention of Blaine's infidelity, mention of sexual harassment</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 14:49:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,109</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28219500</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DivineLady91/pseuds/DivineLady91</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A petty argument between Kurt and Blaine leads to a heavy confession.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Blaine Anderson/Kurt Hummel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Klaine Advent Drabble Challenge 2020 [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2039725</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>60</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Klaine Advent 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Meeting in the Middle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for the Klaine Advent Drabble Challenge 2020 prompt 'meet'.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“It’s a reindeer.”</p><p>“It is <em>not</em> a reindeer.”</p><p>“That is <em>absolutely</em> a reindeer.”</p><p>Blaine huffs, crossing his arms over his chest and turning away from his husband, leaving enough leeway so that he can still give him a serious case of side-eye. “It <em>can’t</em> be a reindeer!”</p><p>“Why not?” Kurt snaps. “Because <em>you</em> say so?”</p><p>“Look at those stumpy antlers. Reindeer have <em>huge</em> antlers!”</p><p>“How do you know? Huh? Do you suddenly work for <em>Wild America</em>? Did you get an internship you’re not telling me about? Did you take a Learning Annex course?”</p><p>“No ...” Blaine gears up for an argument, a bullet-pointed list prepared for his defense perched on the tip of his tongue, waiting to launch. But at the last minute, he shifts in his seat and backs down. “I just … I just … know. All right?”</p><p>“<em>Right</em>. Because you know <em>everything</em>.”</p><p>“I never said that.”</p><p>“You <em>implied</em> it! You’re apparently some unsung expert in the field of zoology! Meanwhile, it seems that the longer we stay married, the less you know <em>me</em>!”</p><p>"That's finally something we can agree about!"</p><p>"Oh! So you admit you don't know me?"</p><p>"No! <em>You </em>don't know <em>me</em>!"</p><p>“Maybe I <em>don't</em> know you! But you should know by now that I can’t tank a relationship with a high-profile client every time your ego gets a little bruised!”</p><p>"What? Do you honestly think ...?" Blaine stares at his husband - hurt and heartbreak filling his eyes when Kurt doesn't back down, not even an inch. "I'm right," he says sadly, inching away even further. "You <em>don't</em> know me."</p><p>“Oh my God!” Santana groans from the back seat. “Can you both put a pause on acting like drama llamas for five seconds!? We are going to die out here! If I don't get to see my wife and daughter again because of you two Necco wafers, I am going to find you guys in the afterlife and ruin every sexual experience you attempt to have!"</p><p>"Don't talk to me about being a drama llama," Kurt grumbles. "He's the one who started it."</p><p>"Fine," Blaine says, defeated. "I started it. Does that make you feel better? Does that make everything okay again? Because doing this after every <em>Vogue</em> function is getting exhausting." </p><p>"It's not every <em>Vogue</em> function," Kurt concedes. "Just the ones Trevor Atley attends. You know, my new client who's about to elevate my status as a fashion editor? The one you seem to think is always flirting with me?"</p><p>"Maybe you should just start leaving me at home."</p><p>"Maybe I should!"</p><p>"Quit it!" Santana scolds. "Both of you! You're not in high school anymore."</p><p>"Thank God," both men mutter in unison.</p><p>"Everyone knows the two of you love each other more than your Gucci luggage, so why don't we set the angst aside and focus on the issue at hand. How are we getting out of this mess?"</p><p>Neither Kurt nor Blaine answer, staring out their respective windows, doing their best to ignore the problem.</p><p>And each other.</p><p>Santana sighs in frustration. "Do you two need the number of a good couples' counselor?" she offers. "Because I have one I can give you if it will bring you guys back to reality!”</p><p>Kurt and Blaine perk up, turning their attention back to the conversation.</p><p>“You and Brittany went to counseling?” Blaine asks.</p><p>“Well ... yeah," Santana replies self-consciously. "There’s no shame in that."</p><p>"Why?" Kurt asks. "If you don't mind me asking?"</p><p>Santana shrugs. She may have minded any other time, but she'll come clean, seeing as this is an emergency. </p><p>"There was a time when Brittany thought the ghost of Lord Tubbington was trying to split us up."</p><p>"O-oh," Blaine says. "That's ... interesting."</p><p>"I personally thought, you know, it might not be that. That it might be something deeper. So we went to a professional and talked things out.”</p><p>“Wow," Kurt says. "That’s very mature of you guys.”</p><p>“Yeah, well, we have our moments. I wish it was contagious!"</p><p>Kurt and Blaine roll their eyes and retreat to the safety of their corners.</p><p>"Look," Santana tries, desperate for a resolution, "I think you guys might be suffering from a good, old-fashioned failure to communicate.”</p><p>“And why do you think that?”</p><p>“Because most couples do. You spend so much time with one another, you get to a point where you assume you can read each other’s minds. Then you get offended when that’s not the case.”</p><p>“So what are we supposed to do about that now? How’s that going to get us out of the hole that we’re in?”</p><p>“Why don’t you start one truth at a time? Meet in the middle. Kurt, you reveal something to Blaine, and for every one thing you tell him, he has to tell you one thing back.”</p><p>Blaine wraps his arms defiantly over his chest, looking more like a pouting middle schooler than a grown man. “I will if he will." </p><p>"Will you?" Kurt bites. "Because you seem to think there are things I can’t handle before you even tell me what they are!"</p><p>"Because you usually go off the deep end no matter what I say! Especially if you think I'm keeping a secret!"</p><p>"Well, excuse me, but the last time you kept secrets from me, you’d slept with someone else!"</p><p>The car becomes tight with quiet until Blaine sighs. "Fair enough."</p><p>"Sometimes I get the feeling that you're waiting for me to do the same," Kurt continues. "That no matter how much I tell you I love you, that I forgive you, you're waiting for me to find an opportunity to hurt you.”</p><p>"Ooo. Kurt starts out strong," Santana says, taking it upon herself to moderate. "Blaine? Your turn."</p><p>Blaine shoots Santana an unamused look. “I used to feel that way. I'll admit it. Because I thought I would definitely deserve it if you did cheat on me. But that's not the case here. Not with Trevor. The truth is …" Blaine curls against the window a bit, curls in on himself a bit "... I don’t like him. At all. It’s not even a personality thing. He makes me uncomfortable. Like ... Terry Crews … Brendan Fraser … uncomfortable.”</p><p>The air around them is tense. It's cold. So cold that Kurt's hands hurt. But he feels none of it.</p><p>He feels nothing.</p><p>He's gone numb.</p><p>Blaine's confession is nowhere in the vicinity of what Kurt expected to hear. He thought for sure that this entire issue surrounded Blaine's jealousy. His insecurity. Kurt's suspicions had been corroborated by reliable sources.</p><p>Namely Isabelle.</p><p>The <em>Vogue</em> gossip mill didn't work in his favor this time.</p><p>But he shouldn't need it. How did he not catch on to this?</p><p>“Do you mean to tell me …” Kurt swallows hard, already planning the outfit he’s going to wear when he rips that asshole Trevor a new one “… he touched you?”</p><p>“N-not yet.”</p><p>“Not yet! What do you mean <em>not yet</em>!?”</p><p>“I’ve heard rumors. And he … he looks at me. Makes comments. I know if it came down to it, I could handle myself with him … <em>physically</em>. But there’s so much more to consider."</p><p>"Consider? What else is there to consider? What are you weighing against the possibility of sexual assault?" Kurt screeches when he should remain calm, but he can't help himself. He didn't have a clue about this! But he's not just pissed at Trevor.</p><p>He's livid at himself.</p><p>"I was afraid it would put your job at stake. And my reputation. If I call him out on rumors and I’m wrong, it could tank both of our careers. Neither of us would ever work again. But I don’t want to wait until he does something. I don’t ... I don't want to be touched. Not by him.”</p><p>“Oh, honey. Of course not." Kurt puts a hand on Blaine's shoulder and waits, sees if he wants to be comforted. A single touch is all it takes for Blaine to roll towards his husband and melt in his arms. "I'm nice to him because of that stupid contract, but I can't stand him, to be honest. The whole night, I was hoping you would come over, hang all over me, stake your claim like a Neanderthal. It didn't dawn on me that there might be some other reason you were keeping your distance."</p><p>"I should have told you.”</p><p>Kurt squeezes Blaine tight. “Yes, you should have told me!" </p><p>“I’m sorry, Kurt. I just got … overwhelmed. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I didn’t want you to do anything that would jeopardize this contract, but …”</p><p>“Blaine! You’re my husband! No contract in the world means more to me than you!”</p><p>“I ... didn’t know what to do.”</p><p>“I’ll tell you what we’re going to do," Kurt says, his voice shaking with rage. "In the morning, we’re going to call Isabelle, and contact the legal team at <em>Vogue</em> for a consult. Then we’ll hit this asshole with a two-fisted punch. I’ll have my team do an expose, try to find anyone who might be willing to blow the whistle on this guy. But we’ll also run a series of PSAs on sexual harassment, and how it can affect anyone. You’ll be in one of them! That way, even if we never say this guy’s name out loud, he’ll know we have his number. If he doesn’t start backing down after that, then I’ll invite him to an intimate lunch at my office, talk things out one-on-one.”</p><p>“Make that two-on-two,” Santana pipes up from the backseat. “It’s more fun when we threaten assholes together, remember?” She offers Kurt her fist to bump, and, caught up in the moment, he does.</p><p>Blaine straightens up, finds a tissue to blot his eyes. “You guys don’t have to do all that.”</p><p>“Yes, we do!" Kurt says, concerned that his husband would consider backing down from this fight, especially seeing that Kurt was in a similar boat when the two of them first met. At the time, it was Blaine coming to the rescue, back when the only thing at stake was a mark on his so-called <em>permanent record</em>. Now they're older, and the stakes are higher, which is why Kurt has to do everything he can to return the favor. "I’m not standing for this, Blaine! Not in a million years!”</p><p>Blaine smiles at his passionate husband, looking more relaxed than he has over the past three weeks of functions and parties. "I love you."</p><p>"I love you, too."</p><p>Blaine leans forward and gives his husband a kiss - a small kiss at first, but it goes on longer ... and longer, Santana grimacing as she sinks into her seat, praying the leather will swallow her whole and shoot her out the exhaust pipe to freedom. But then the car rocks back and forth, and oh!</p><p>How quickly they forget.</p><p>Kurt and Blaine get so wrapped up in one another, in love and relief, they don't seem to notice when the car shakes again, more violently.</p><p>But Santana, in the middle of sending a text to her wife, pops up.</p><p>“Great!" Santana cheers in an anxious voice. "We have a plan to deal with that asshole, and love is the law of the land again! Fantastic! Now - how are we going to handle Rudolph the Red-nosed Roid machine?” She gestures out the window to their original problem, the one they forgot about in the heat of the moment - a giant buck standing in front of Blaine's BMW, head lowered, ramming into the bumper as if attempting to flip them over.</p><p>He may have stubby antlers, but he sure knows how to use them.</p><p>“We should call 9-1-1," Kurt says.</p><p>“I’m calling Triple A," Blaine says.</p><p>“What is Triple A going to do?” Kurt snaps.</p><p>“I don’t know. But they might be a bit better prepared than 9-1-1.”</p><p>“How in the world do you figure that?”</p><p>“Because Triple A’s sole purpose is helping motorists out of a jam. They might have deer deterrent or a special horn or something.”</p><p>“What!?”</p><p>“It makes sense, Kurt!”</p><p>“No it doesn’t!”</p><p>"And what are the police going to do?"</p><p>"Hello? Police have guns!"</p><p>“Before the two of you get started again, this is what we’re going to do." Santana points to Blaine. "You call Triple A." She points to Kurt. "You call 9-1-1. Meanwhile, I’m going to save the day.”</p><p>“Who are you calling?” Kurt asks.</p><p>“Domino's Pizza.”</p><p>“And why is that considered saving the day?"</p><p>“I'll bet you $50 delivery will not only get here faster, they’ll be packing mace. Plus, they'll bring food. Listening to the two of you bitch really drains the life out of a person.”</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>